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Canadian Office Furniture

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Introduction While design innovation in the Canadian household furniture industry declined in the late 1950s and 1960s, the office furniture industry increased its investment in design and product development. The last fifteen years has seen major consolidation - Artopex absorbed BNI International and Tec Innovations; Teknion purchased Squirewood, Leif Jacobsen and Roy and Breton; other companies bought new plants or expanded old ones. This strategy has resulted in the office sector outperforming the household sector in the past few years. (Readers should interpret the figures below carefully, as the Canadian office furniture sector uses a larger proportion of imported components in its "production" than does the household furniture sector.)

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Canadian Office and Household Shipments in millions of dollars

1950s-1960s Trendsetters Three office furniture pioneers in Canada during this time set design trends. Robin Bush designed "Prismasteel" in 1958 for Canadian Office and School Furniture; Jacques Guillon and his team designed the Alumna office desk (see below) with a patented slotted-leg extrusion in 1961 for Art Woodwork; Doug Ball, who had designed and engineered several early office panel-based "systems," first introduced the use of post-and-beam design in 1978, with his Race System for Sunar in Montreal, which is still produced today by the US manufacturer Haworth.

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Art Woodwork - Alumna desk, 1961 (Jacques Gillion and Associates)

Current Trends Investment in the office sector has also seen the introduction of environmental programs (often lacking in the household sector) and eco-friendly powder coating to reduce solvent emission. Research continues in the ergonomics of the office, resulting in better workstation and adjustable chair design (see sidebar for links). Architects committed to the LEED program use their influence with clients to promote green furnishings. And, to give credit where it is due, the Canadian industry is also responding to the environmental commitment made by US manufacturers Herman Miller, Knoll and others.

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Nienkamper - Vox Office (Mark Müller)

Design Investment The most impressive investment Canada has made is in design and designers for this sector, whether hiring an in-house team or using Canadian or international freelance designers. Listed below are Canadian office furniture manufacturers working with Canadian designers.

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Canadian Manufacturers, Designers and Products [3]
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CompanyDesigner/sProduct
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AllseatingMiles KellerOs chair
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ArtopexCharles Godbout and Luc PlanteElasto chair
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Global ContractIn-house design teamAll products
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KeilhauerBrent CordnerFelt chair
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 Tom DeaconAlso, Calais, Chatam, Croft, Danforth, Deacon, Elgin, Fin, Franklin, Junior, Kipling, Simcoe, Soho, Tom, Two Woods chairs
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 Patty JohnsonTurn table
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 Andrew JonesDelmonico, Ripple and Woodrow chairs, Gym table and chair
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 Scot LaughtonLaughton Series: Bridge, Canal, Grand
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 Derek McLeodFlit chair
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 Gord Peteran and Kathleen WicksBaldwin, Brooklyn and Manor chairs
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KrugTom DeaconGriffin chair
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 Christopher WrightVestrada storage units
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NienkämperJohnson ChouElevation bench, Workplaysleep.01 sofa
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 Paul EppEpp chair
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 Charles Godbout and Luc PlanteFolder and Opera tables
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 Scot LaughtonTufold table
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 Mark MüllerMax chair, table and bench, Parabola and Precedent workstations, Tangent shelves, Turin table, Vox: Office, Collections, Tables
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 Klaus NienkamperAmbassador table
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 Karim RashidKurve chair, Wavelength seating
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 Dean ShaldenShalden table
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 Brigitte Shim and Howard SutcliffeHAB chair
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 George Yabu and Glenn PushelbergCarlisle chair, Jester and Virso tables
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TeknionIn-house design teamAll products
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[3] As this chart is subject to ongoing revision, please contact VCR about errors or additions.

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Teknion - Transit panel system (in-house design team)

For detailed analysis of the Canadian office industry see The Canadian Demand For Office Furniture And Trends.

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Source: Statistics Canada, [1] Table 304-0014 (NAICS 3372) [2] Table 304-0014, (NAICS 33712). Values are estimated for 2008.

Note: The reason 2004 is the base year for the graph is explained here

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Books

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Value-Created Reviews's top nine books on contemporary office furniture (in association with Amazon).

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Canadian Manufacturers

· Contemporary design-led
   Canadian office
   furniture mfgs.

   (courtesy FURNITURE LINK
   CANADA

CDN Office Sustainability

· CFS LEED
· Scanwood (PDF)
· SD Issues Scan: (PDF)
· Industry Canada Study (PDF)
· VOC Emmissions
· Whats in the Design? (PDF)

Canadian Trade Shows

· Montreal Design Show
· IIDEX/Neocon Canada

World Trade Shows

· NeoCon
· Orgatec

Office Ergonomics

· BIFMA guidelines
· CCOHS
· CSA publications
· Ergo Blog
· LCD versus CRT (PDF)
· Seating (PDF)
· Workstation design
· VCR - Ergonomics

Online Articles

· Metropolis (1)
· Metropolis (2)

Industry Statistics

· BIFMA
· Stats Can
· Aktrin
· Strategis

Canadian Organizations

· ACID (Ontario)
· ADIQ (Quebec)
· Design Exchange (Ontario)
· Institut de Design Montréal
· Office Products Assoc.

World Organizations

· BIFMA
· BCFA
· OERC

Journals

· Abitare
· Azure
· Canadian Interiors
· Contract Magazine
· Ergonomics in Design
· Hinge Magazine
· Human Factors
· Monday Morning
  Quarterback

 

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